NAND flash memory with a programming voltage held dynamically in a NAND chain channel region

ABSTRACT

Operating voltages to a group of memory cells in an array are supplied via access lines such as word lines and bit lines. The capacitance of associated nodes of the memory cells can latch some of these voltages. Memory operation can continue using the latched voltages even when the access lines are disconnected. In a memory have an array of NAND chains, the capacitance of the channel of each NAND chain can latch a voltage to either enable or inhibit programming. The bit lines can then be disconnected during programming of the group and be used for another memory operation. In one embodiment, the bit lines are precharged for the next verifying step of the same group. In another embodiment, two groups of memory cells are being programmed contemporarily, so that while one group is being programmed, the other group can be verified with the use of the bit lines.

This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 11/621,190, filed on Jan.9, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,660,156, which is a Continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 10/842,941, filed May 10, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No.7,177,197, which is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No.10/677,349, filed Oct. 1, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,045, which is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 09/956,201, filed Sep. 17, 2001,now U.S. Pat. No. 6,741,502, which applications and patents areincorporated herein in their entirety by this reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to nonvolatile erasable programmablememories and more specifically, techniques for erasing, programming, orreading these types of memories.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Memory and storage is one of the key technology areas that is enablingthe growth in the information age. With the rapid growth in theInternet, World Wide Web (WWW), wireless phones, personal digitalassistant, digital cameras, digital camcorders, digital music players,computers, networks, and more, there is continually a need for bettermemory and storage technology. A particular type of memory isnonvolatile memory. A nonvolatile memory retains its memory or storedstate even when power is removed. Some types of nonvolatile erasableprogrammable memories include Flash, EEPROM, EPROM, MRAM, FRAM,ferroelectric, and magnetic memories. Some nonvolatile storage productsinclude CompactFlash (CF) cards, MultiMedia cards (MMC), Flash PC cards(e.g., ATA Flash cards), SmartMedia cards, and memory sticks.

A widely used type of semiconductor memory storage cell is the floatinggate memory cell. Some types of floating gate memory cells includeFlash, EEPROM, and EPROM. The memory cells are configured or programmedto a desired configured state. In particular, electric charge is placedon or removed from the floating gate of a Flash memory cell to put thememory into two or more stored states. One state is an erased state andthere may be one or more programmed states. Alternatively, depending onthe technology and terminology, there may be a programmed state and oneor more erased states. A Flash memory cell can be used to represent atleast two binary states, a 0 or a 1. A Flash memory cell can store morethan two binary states, such as a 00, 01, 10, or 11; this cell can storemultiple states and may be referred to as a multistate memory cell. Thecell may have more than one programmed states. If one state is theerased state (00), the programmed states will be 01, 10, and 11,although the actual encoding of the states may vary.

The memory device typically comprises one or more memory chips that maybe mounted on a card. Each memory chip comprises an array of memorycells supported by peripheral circuits such as decoders and erase, writeand read circuits. The more sophisticated memory devices also come witha controller that performs intelligent and higher level memoryoperations and interfacing.

There are many commercially successful non-volatile solid-state memorydevices being used today. These memory devices may be flash EEPROM ormay employ other types of nonvolatile memory cells. Examples of flashmemory and systems and methods of manufacturing them are given in U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,070,032, 5,095,344, 5,315,541, 5,343,063, and 5,661,053,5,313,421 and 6,222,762. In particular, flash memory devices with NANDchain structures are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,570,315, 5,903,495,6,046,935. Also nonvolatile memory devices are also manufactured frommemory cells with a dielectric layer for storing charge. Instead of theconductive floating gate elements described earlier, a dielectric layeris used. Such memory devices utilizing dielectric storage element havebeen described by Eitan et al., “NROM: A Novel Localized Trapping, 2-BitNonvolatile Memory Cell,” IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 21, no. 11,November 2000, pp. 543-545. An ONO dielectric layer extends across thechannel between source and drain diffusions. The charge for one data bitis localized in the dielectric layer adjacent to the drain, and thecharge for the other data bit is localized in the dielectric layeradjacent to the source. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,768,192 and6,011,725 disclose a nonvolatile memory cell having a trappingdielectric sandwiched between two silicon dioxide layers. Multi-statedata storage is implemented by separately reading the binary states ofthe spatially separated charge storage regions within the dielectric.

Despite the success of nonvolatile memories, there also continues to bea need to improve the technology. It is desirable to improve thedensity, speed, durability, and reliability of these memories. It isalso desirable to reduce power consumption.

As can be seen, there is a need for improving the operation ofnonvolatile memories. Specifically, by allowing background operation ofthe nonvolatile memory cells, this will speed up operations and reducepower consumption.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The invention provides a technique of erasing, programming, or readingnonvolatile memory cells by dynamically applying an operating voltage tothe gates of the memory cells, rather than a continuous voltage. Thisreduces the power consumed during an operation. Dynamic operation suchas dynamic erase, dynamic program, dynamic read, also permits anyoperation, such as read, program, or erase, to occur while selectedmemory cells are activated. Dynamic operation improves the operationalspeed of an integrated circuit compared to a continuous operation. Thistechnique may also be referred to as background operation, such asbackground erase, background program, or background read. In anembodiment, the gates are charged to an operational or operating voltageusing a charge pump. The operational voltage may be an erase voltage,program voltage, or read voltage. The pump is then disconnected, and thegates remain at the voltage dynamically. The operating voltage at thegates will be periodically checked and refreshed as needed. While thecharge pump is disconnected and the operating voltage is dynamicallyheld at the gates, other operations, possibly on other memory cells, maybe performed.

In one embodiment, the invention is a method of operating an integratedcircuit with nonvolatile memory cells including turning on a charge pumpto generate an erase voltage. One or more erase gates of nonvolatilememory cells selected for erase are charged with the erase voltage. Thecharge pump is disconnected. The charge pump may also be turned offafter it is disconnected. The erase gates are allowed to hold the erasevoltage dynamically while the charge pump is disconnected. The selectednonvolatile memory cells are erased using the dynamic erase voltage.

The charge pump may be periodically connected to refresh the erasevoltage on the erase gates to refresh the erase voltage on the erasegates. Programming of nonvolatile memory cells, other than thenonvolatile memory cells selected for erase, is permitted while thecharge pump is disconnected. Reading of nonvolatile memory cells, otherthan the nonvolatile memory cells selected for erase, is permitted whilethe charge pump is disconnected.

The selected nonvolatile memory cells may be checked to see whether theyare erased. If the selected nonvolatile memory cells are not erased, thecharge pump is connected to refresh the erase voltage on the erasegates. The operation may be repeated.

In another embodiment, the invention is a method of operating anintegrated circuit including erasing, programming, or reading selectedmemory cells by dynamically charging gates of the selected memory cellsby periodically directly applying an operational voltage to the gates.Operations on memory cells, other than the selected memory cells, arepermitted when the operating voltage is not being directly applied tothe gates. When the selected memory cells are considered erased,programmed, or read, the gates of the selected memory cells aredischarged to ground. When the selected memory cells are erased, a VT ofa floating gate transistor becomes uniformly positive or negative.

In another embodiment, the invention is an integrated circuit includingan array of memory cells arranged in rows and columns. There are anumber of transfer transistors, each connected to a row of the array ofmemory cells. There are a number of pumps, each connected to one of thetransfer transistors. A pump dynamically charges gates of a row ofmemory cells to an operating voltage through a respective transfertransistor and the operating voltage is dynamically held at the gates byturning off the respective transfer transistor.

According to another aspect of the invention, a set of bit lines isallowed to transfer a first set of voltage conditions to a first page ofmemory cells and be held dynamically by the first page to perform afirst memory operation while the set of bit lines is freed up to performanother memory operation.

In particular, for a page of NAND chains containing a corresponding pageof NAND type memory cells to be programmed in parallel, the first set ofvoltage conditions are transferred via the set of bit lines and helddynamically at the channels of the NAND chains. This allows theindividual channels to be at ground potential to allow programming or beboosted to a higher voltage to inhibit programming as the case may be.The set of bit lines can be disconnected from the page of NAND memorycell after boosting and before the completion of the programming of thepage.

In one embodiment, the first memory operation is the programming step ofa series of program-verifying cycling operation on the first page ofmemory, and the other memory operation is the next verifying step.Unlike the conventional case, the verifying step can commence ahead ofthe completion of the programming step. The bit lines are precharged forthe next verifying step of the same page while the programming step isstill going on.

In another embodiment, two pages of memory cells are being programmedcontemporarily, so that while one page is being programmed, the otherpage can be verified with the use of the bit lines.

Having a set of voltages to be transferred by access lines such as bitlines or word lines to individual nodes in the memory array and be helddynamically thereat, allows memory operations to take place in thebackground while the access lines can be used for another operation.This will increase performance since more operations can be performed ina give time.

Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent upon consideration of the following detailed descriptionand the accompanying drawings, in which like reference designationsrepresent like features throughout the figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an array of memory cells and circuitry for operating thememory cells.

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram for dynamically erasing memory cells.

FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram for dynamically operating on memory cells.

FIG. 4 shows a diagram of a NOR Flash cell.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram of some NAND Flash cells.

FIG. 6 illustrates schematically a string of memory cells organized intoa NAND chain.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a memory array organized as an array ofNAND chains.

FIG. 8 illustrates a preferred arrangement of a memory device suitablefor practicing the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a table of example operation voltages for programmingoperation of a memory cell.

FIG. 10 illustrates a timing diagram of typical voltage applied to thecontrol gates of the page of memory cells via the selected word lineduring a conventional program operation.

FIG. 11 is another schematic of the NAND chain shown in FIG. 6, showingin particular the drain select transistor and the channel capacitanceused to latch a program-enabling or program-inhibiting voltage,according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a timing diagram of the programming step with channel voltagelatching.

FIG. 13 illustrates a conventional programming cycle where in a programoperation is a series of interleaving programming and verifying steps.

FIG. 14 illustrate the embodiment where the verifying step commencesahead of the completion of the programming step during program operationon a page of memory cells.

FIG. 15A illustrates another embodiment in which two pages of memorycells shares the same set of bit lines for efficient, paralleloperations.

FIG. 15B illustrates another possibility of the two-page programmingembodiment shown in FIG. 15A in which the verifying step has a periodlonger than the latch programming period.

FIG. 16 illustrates a memory device capable of performing pipelinedprogramming and verifying for two pages of memory cells simultaneously,according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Integrated circuits providing nonvolatile storage include nonvolatileerasable-programmable memory cells. Many types of integrated circuitshaving nonvolatile memory cells include memories, microcontrollers,microprocessors, and programmable logic. Nonvolatile memory integratedcircuits may be combined with other nonvolatile memory integratedcircuits to form larger memories. The nonvolatile memory integratedcircuits may also be combined with other integrated circuits orcomponents such as controllers, microprocessors, random access memories(RAM), or I/O devices, to form a nonvolatile memory system. An exampleof a Flash EEPROM system is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,987, whichis incorporated by reference along with all references cited in thisapplication. Further discussion of nonvolatile cells and storage is inU.S. Pat. Nos. 5,095,344, 5,270,979, 5,380,672, 6,222,762, and 6,230,233which are incorporated by reference.

Some types of nonvolatile storage or memory cell are Flash, EEPROM, andEPROM. The invention also applied to other types of memories such asphase-change memories, NRAM, FRAM, magnetic ferroelectric, and manyothers. The memory cells are generally arranged within the integratedcircuit in an array of rows and columns. FIG. 1 shows an array of Flashmemory cells 105. Details of the interconnections of the memory cellsare not shown in the figure in order to simplify the diagram. There aremany different types and configurations of memory cells. Memory cell 105is a multibit cell that is described in more detail in U.S. Pat. No.5,712,180, which is incorporated by reference. This memory cell has aselect or select gate line 160, a right control gate or erase gate 111,and a left control gate or erase gate 113. The right control gate is acontrol electrode of a right floating gate transistor (TFGR) 115, andthe left control gate line is a control electrode of a left floatinggate transistor (TFGL) 117. The right and left control gates areconnected to an erase gate line 159. The select gate line is connectedto a gate of a select transistor (TSEL) 119. A decoder 166 is connectedto the select gate lines. the select gate lines and corresponding selectgates for a row may be enabled or disabled by row using the decoder.

For each memory cell 105, there are two floating gate transistors orcells 115 and 117 to store binary data. Each of these floating gatetransistors may store a single bit or multiple bits of data. Whenstoring multiple bits of data, each floating gate cell may also bereferred to as a multilevel or multibit cell, because the cell may beprogrammed to have more than two VT (threshold voltage) levels. Forexample, each floating gate transistor may store two bits per cell, fourbits per cell, or an even greater number of bits per cell.

Floating gate transistors are selectively configured by placingappropriate voltages on drain or source lines 123 and 125, control gatelines 113 and 111, and select lines 160. For example, drain or sourceline 123 may be selectively grounded by using a transistor 128.

The invention will be described with respect to the specific memory cellstructure shown in FIG. 1, where there are two floating gate transistorsper cell. However, the invention is also applicable to other memory cellstructures. For example, the invention may be used for memory cellswhere there is a single floating gate transistor per cell. In anotherembodiment, there may be a single floating gate transistor and a singleselect transistor in each cell. The invention is applicable to memorycells organized in NOR or NAND arrangements. FIG. 4 shows an example ofa NOR cell while FIG. 5 shows an example of a NAND cell.

In an embodiment, the invention provides a technique of dynamicallyapplying a voltage to a portion of the memory cells and allowing anotheroperation on other memory cells. By applying a dynamic voltage to somememory cells, this allows a dynamic operation to occur on the selectedmemory cells. This dynamic operation may be, for example, a dynamicerase, dynamic program, or dynamic read.

In particular, one operation on the memory cells is to place selectedfloating gate transistors into an erased state. This discussion focuseson dynamic erase, but it is understood that the invention appliesanalogously to any other dynamic operations including dynamic programand dynamic read. Erase refers to configuring each of the selectedfloating gate devices to have a VT (threshold voltage) of, for example,below 0 volts. When erased, the floating gate transistor does conductcurrent even when 1 volt is placed on its gate.

One technique of erasing the selected memory cells involves connectingthe erase gate line 159, which is connected to the erase gate of thememory cells, to an erase voltage. The erase voltage is typically a highvoltage, which may be above 15 volts. The erase voltage may be fromabout 15 volts to about 22 volts. The erase voltage may be generatedusing an on-chip high voltage pump, also known as a charge pump. Inother embodiments, the erase voltage may be supplied from an off-chipsource to a pin of the integrated circuit.

The erase gates of the memory cells to be erased are continuously drivenwith the erase voltage until the memory cells are erased. The memorycells are erased when the VTs of the floating gate devices are set toabout 0 volts or less. Typically, a relatively large number of memorycells are erased at one time. For example, in a solid state disk, such aFlash card, erase may be performed on a group of cells referred to as asector. Memory arrays or cells may be erased one row or one column at atime. Or, all the memory cells of the integrated circuit may be bulkerased at the same time.

In one embodiment, the memory cells are initialized to an erased statebefore they can be placed into a programmed state. The technique oferasing memory cells by continuously driving the select gate hasdrawbacks. The erase operation typically occurs in 100s of microsecondsor even milliseconds. Reading (or sensing) the state of the memory cellstypically takes microseconds. Programming the memory cells typicallytakes in the 10s of microseconds. And, turning the erase pump or chargepump on takes some time in the 1 microsecond to 5 microseconds range.

When erasing by continuously driving the erase gates, the erase pump isturned on and generally consumes power: capacitors of the erase pump aredriven using a high-voltage clock oscillator which consumes power. Powerconsumption of an integrated circuit during an erase mode is typicallyin the 10s of milliamps. The erase cycle is the entire time period(e.g., 100s of microseconds) from the start of applying the erasevoltage to the erase gates until the floating gate devices are erased.During the erase operation, there are no other operations that occurduring the entire erase cycle. One of the reasons other operations arenot performed during the erase mode is that it is not desirable tofurther increase the power consumption during the erase mode. Anotherreason is that certain circuits such as the programming circuitry cannotperform or accomplish dual tasks.

Furthermore, there may be reliability issues when erasing by continuouserase voltage drive. When in a multiple-sector erase mode, all sectorsare erased at the same (i.e., highest) voltage that might be required bythe hardest to erase sector, thus unnecessarily stressing the fasterones. This may lead to a situation where some memory cells areovererased (i.e., erased to a VT lower than necessary), which puts extrastress on these floating gates. This may lead to a decreased longevityof the overstressed floating gate devices. Therefore, in order toprevent overerase, only certain patterns of multiple sector erase may beavailable. During the whole erase operation the erase clock and theerase pump are on, burning current. In case of power failure, the sectorstatus (e.g., whether a sector is completely erased) remains uncertain,depending on the time the crash occurred. When the memory chip is in theerase mode, generally other types of operation are not possible.

A proposed technique of erasing memory cells is to apply the erasevoltage dynamically to the control gate (also may be referenced to aserase gate) of the selected memory cells. The technique may be referredto as dynamic erase, latched erase, or background erase. FIG. 2 shows aflow diagram of the dynamic erase technique. Flow diagrams for otherdynamic operations (e.g., dynamic program, dynamic read) would besimilar. In particular, dynamic erase involves erasing memory cells byturning on the charge pump (box 204). For example, in FIG. 1, a selectederase pump 151 (may also be referred to as erase and decode circuitry)may be turned on or connecting and applied to the selected memory cells.The erase voltage may be selectively applied to the selected erase lineusing decoding circuity. The details of the decoder circuitry are notshown, but any typical decoder circuitry may be utilized. Decodercircuitry may include pass transistors and logic gates.

A transfer transistor 157 between the erase pump and the memory cellsmay be part of the decode or predecode circuitry, and it may be itselfconnected to an erase pump. Transistor 157 is turned on in order toconnect the erase voltage of the erase pump to the erase gates. In orderto pass a high voltage from the erase pump through the transfertransistor to the erase line with erase gates, the gate of thetransistor need to be at the high voltage level (i.e., erase voltage)plus a VT of the transfer transistor.

The erase gates are charged to the erase voltage (box 208). The erasepump is turned off after gates are charged (box 212) and transistor 157is turned off. Since there is parasitic capacitance on the erase line159 (may also be called the word line) connecting the erase (select)transistors, the erase voltage will be held at the erase gates (box216). Depending on the amount of capacitance, which is generally fairlylarge (in the picofarad range), the charge on line 159 will decay verygradually, mainly due to charge transfer to the floating gate. Duringthe period when line 159 is charged, the memory cells will bedynamically erased by the dynamic erase voltage. While the erase pump isdisconnected or off, other operations may be performed (box 220). Forexample, other memory cells may be programmed or sensed and read.

The dynamic operation of the memory cells may have a duration dependingon on-chip logic, off-chip logic, on-chip timer, off-chip timer, orother circuitry. For example, after some time, the memory cells will bechecked if they have been erased or not (box 224). This check may beperformed using the sense amplifier circuitry or other on-chipintelligence. Alternatively, the memory cells may be checked by anexternal circuit, such as a controller integrated circuit. If noterased, the dynamic erase operation occurs again (boxes 204, 208, 212,216, 220, and 224). The erase voltage may be refreshed to the full erasevoltage level (box 216). The erase voltage will be gradually dischargedby the equivalent of small currents per erase gate, consumed by theerase operation of removing of electrons from the floating gates. Thedynamic erase operation continues until the selected memory cells erased(box 228). The erased memory cells may now be written (or programmed).

By using a dynamic mode of operation, the above problems described withcontinuous erase voltage drive are solved. Because inherently, the eraseline has a capacitance (which at least in part is parasiticcapacitance), the erase gate can be first, actively, brought to thedesired voltage, which may be digital-to-analog-converter (DAC)controlled. Then, the transfer gate (transistor 157) that was driving itis turned off. Charge remains trapped on the erase line until later whenthe transfer gate is turned on again, at which point the erase gate iseither refreshed or actively discharged to ground.

There are many ways the erase line may be actively discharged to ground.The circuitry may be part of pump and decode circuitry 151. FIG. 1 showsan example of one embodiment. A discharge transistor 163 is connectedbetween the erase line and ground. The discharge transistor may beconnected on either side of transistor 157, either on the side of thepump or on the side of the erase gates. In FIG. 1, transistor 163 isconnected to the pump side of the transistor 157. This dischargetransistor is turned on to discharge the erase line after the memorycells are erased.

By using dynamic erase, any combination or pattern of erase gates can belatched into virtually simultaneous erase. Erase gates may be charged todifferent erase voltage levels, depending upon their particular needs,which helps prevent overstress. After latching one or more of the erasegates into erase operation, the chip itself can perform any otheroperation (e.g., read, write, or erase). For example, dynamic erase maybe occurring from two or more erase lines at the same time. However, theparticular segment where erase is dynamically occurring should be leftisolated. Furthermore, dynamic erase may be performed on the erase linesin any desired pattern. For example, alternating rows of memory cellsmay be erased. The erase clock and the erase pump can be nonactiveduring most of the erase operation period, saving current. If powerfailure happens, it does not affect the trapped charge, so only arelatively longer erase will take place.

Furthermore, as discussed above, the erase operation takes a relativelylong time compared to other operations such as read or write operation.An integrated circuit using the background feature will operate faster.In other words, many more operations may be done on the integratedcircuit with background erase in the same amount of time than comparedto an integrated circuit with continuous erase. As an example, a readoperation may take about 2 microseconds, an erase operation may takemore than about 100 microseconds, and a program operation may take about10 microseconds. The read operation is about fifty or more times fasterthan the erase operation. Therefore, fifty or more read operations mayoccur at the same time as the dynamic erase operation. The programoperation is about ten or more times faster than the erase operation.Therefore, ten or more program operations may occur at the same time asthe dynamic erase operation.

Because the actual voltage on the erase gate decays over time due toFowler-Nordheim tunneling to the floating gates or junction leakage,refreshing operations can bring it back to the desired level or anoverdrive value can be used instead. An overdrive value may be about 0.5volts higher than the regular value.

The circuitry to implement dynamic erase operation is much the same asthe circuitry used for continuous or static erase operation. Therefore,there is no die size penalty. Furthermore, if for some reason, possiblydue to process variations, this mode of operation turns out to beunsatisfactory, normal erase using a continuous or static erase voltagemay still be used for those integrated circuits. The integrated circuitswhere dynamic operation is not functionally because of process or othervariations can still be packaged and sold.

FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention, where thedynamic or background operation is not specifically the erase operation.First, the circuitry to generate a required operating voltage is turnedon (box 303). The circuitry may be on-chip or off-chip. This circuitrymay be, for example, a charge pump, high-voltage switch, or a basiclogic gate to output a logic high or logic low.

Next, the operating voltage is connected to one or more nodes of one ormore nonvolatile memory cells (box 307). The connection may be, forexample, by way of a transfer or pass transistor or logic gate. The nodeof the memory cell may be the drain, source, gate, erase gate, tunnelnode, or any other node or nodes. The node is charged to the operatingvoltage and this voltage is held there dynamically by capacitanceincluding parasitic capacitance. The operating voltage is disconnectedfrom the memory cells (box 311).

The dynamic operation occurs to the memory cells (box 314). The dynamicoperation may be erase, program, or read. While the dynamic operationoccurs, other memory cells (not operated on dynamically) may be operatedon (box 318). For example, while some memory cells are being dynamicallyprogrammed, other memory cells may be read. Or, interleaved program,erase, or read may occur where dynamic operation is occurring on twoportions of memory cells, at slightly different starting times. Anycombination of different operations may occur as long as thatcombination does not disturb or interfere with the dynamic operations.

The dynamic operation is checked whether it is complete (box 321). Ifyes, the operation is finished (box 325) and other operations may occuron the memory cells just dynamically operated on. Otherwise the dynamicoperation occurs again (boxes 307, 311, 314, 318, and 321) untilcomplete. The circuitry used to detect completion of the dynamicoperation may be on-chip, off-chip, and use sense amplifier or timercircuit.

FIG. 4 shows a nonvolatile memory cell for a NOR configuration.

FIG. 5 shows nonvolatile memory cells in a NAND configuration.

In FIGS. 4 and 5, the nonvolatile memory cells are floating gate devicessuch as Flash, EEPROM, or EPROM.

Latched Programming for Nonvolatile Memory with NAND Structure

The background memory operation by latching an operating voltage onto anode of the memory cells is particularly suited for those memoryoperations that involve transfer of charge by tunneling to or from acharge storage element.

Examples of background erase operation using the Fowler-Nordheimtunneling mechanism has been described earlier. Typically, a nonvolatilememory cell has a charge storage element (e.g., a floating gate)sandwiched between a channel region and a control gate. TheFowler-Nordheim tunneling takes place when a high voltage, and thereforeelectric field, exists between the substrate and the charge storageelement so as to induce electrons in the charge storage element totunnel through a thin oxide to the substrate channel region. This isaccomplished by applying a high voltage to the substrate relative to thecontrol gate. In this way, the charge storage element also acquires ahigh potential difference relative to the substrate by virtue ofcapacitive coupling.

In memory with NAND structure, the preferred programming mechanism is by“tunneling injection,” which may be regarded as a reverseFowler-Nordheim tunneling. A high voltage is applied to the control gaterelative to the substrate. In this way, electrons are pulled from thesubstrate to the intervening charge storage element.

FIG. 6 illustrates schematically a string of memory cells organized intoa NAND chain. An NAND chain 450 consists of a series of memorytransistors M1, M2, . . . Mn (e.g., n=4, 8, 16 or higher) daisy-chainedby their sources and drains. A pair of select transistors S1, S2controls the NAND chain's connection to the external via the NANDchain's source terminal 454 and drain terminal 456. A control gate ofeach of the select transistors S1, S2 provides controlled access to theNAND chain. When the source select transistor S1 is turned on, thesource terminal is coupled to a source line. Similarly, when the drainselect transistor S2 is turned on, the drain terminal of the NAND chainis coupled to a bit line of the memory array.

Each memory transistor in the chain has a charge storage element 460 tostore a given amount of charge so as to represent an intended memorystate. A control gate of each memory transistor provides control overthe current flow in a channel defined by its source and drain. In fact,the current flow in the channel is a function of the effective field onthe channel, which is the combined effect of the field exerted at thecontrol gate and the charge storage element. The entire NAND chain canbe regarded as having combined channel between the source and drainterminal. The combined channel is constituted from the channels of theindividual memory cells in the chain. When an addressed memorytransistor within a NAND chain is read and verified during programming,its control gate is supplied with an appropriate voltage. At the sametime, the rest of the non-addressed memory transistors in the NAND chain450 are fully turned on by application of sufficient voltage on theircontrol gates. In this way, a conductive channel is effective createdfrom the source of the individual memory transistor to the sourceterminal 454 of the NAND chain and likewise for the drain of theindividual memory transistor to the drain terminal 456 of the chain.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a memory array organized as an array ofNAND chains. Along each column of NAND chains, a bit line 436 is coupledto the drain terminal 456 of each NAND chain 450. Along each row of NANDchains, a source line 434 may connect all their source terminals 454.Also the control gates of the NAND chains along a row are connected to aseries of corresponding word lines. An entire row of NAND chains can beaddressed by turning on the pair of select transistors S1 and S2 (seeFIG. 6) with appropriate voltages on their control gates via theconnected word lines. When a memory transistor within a NAND chain isbeing read, the remaining memory transistors in the chain are turned onhard via their associated word lines so that the current flowing throughthe chain is essentially dependent upon the level of charge stored inthe cell being read. An example of an NAND architecture array and itsoperation as part of a memory system is found in U.S. Pat. Nos.5,570,315, 5,774,397 and 6,046,935.

FIG. 8 illustrates a preferred arrangement of a memory device suitablefor practicing the present invention. The memory device includes atwo-dimensional array of memory cells 400, control circuitry 510, andread/write circuits 570A and 570B. The memory array 400 is addressableby word lines via row decoders 530A and 530B and by bit lines via columndecoders 560A and 560B. The read/write circuits 570A and 570B includemultiple sense amplifiers and allow a page of memory cells to be read orprogrammed in parallel. In one embodiment, where a row of memory cellsare partitioned into multiple pages, page multiplexers 550A and 550B areprovided to multiplex the read/write circuits 570A and 570B to theindividual pages.

The control circuitry 510 cooperates with the read/write circuits toperform memory operations on the memory array 400. The control circuitry510 includes a state machine 512, an on-chip address decoder 514 and apower control module 516. The state machine 512 provides chip levelcontrol of memory operations. The on-chip address decoder 514 providesan address interface between that used by the host or a memorycontroller to the hardware address used by the decoders 530A and 530Band 570A and 570B. The power control module 516 controls the power andvoltages supplied to the word lines and bit lines during memoryoperations.

Access to the memory array 400 by the various peripheral circuits isimplemented in a symmetric fashion, on opposite sides of the array sothat the densities of access lines and circuitry on each side arereduced in half. Thus, the row decoder is split into row decoders 530Aand 530B and the column decoder into column decoders 560A and 560B. Inthe embodiment where a row of memory cells are partitioned into multiplepages, the page multiplexer 550 is split into page multiplexers 550A and550B. Similarly, the read/write circuits are split into read/writecircuits 570A connecting to bit lines from the bottom and read/writecircuits 570B connecting to bit lines from the top of the array 400. Inthis way, the density of the read/write modules, and therefore that ofthe sense modules 580, is essentially reduced by one half.

FIG. 9 illustrates a table of example operation voltages for programmingoperation of a memory cell. In the preferred embodiment, a programoperation includes a series of interleaving programming and verifyingsteps. A page of memory cells is operated on in parallel.

FIG. 10 illustrates a timing diagram of typical voltage applied to thecontrol gates of the page of memory cells via the selected word lineduring a conventional program operation. The programming voltage V_(PGM)is applied during each programming step while the verifying voltageV_(VER) is applied during each verifying step.

During a programming step, all cells of the page are exposed to theprogramming pulses V_(PGM) through the selected word line connectingtheir control gates. The individual cells among the page are selectivelyenabled for or inhibited from programming by the voltage condition attheir respective bit lines. Those memory cells having 0V on their drainlines (i.e., bit lines) will be programmed, while those having Vdd ontheir drain lines will be inhibited.

A verifying step follows each programming step. After each programmingstep with the application of a dose of programming voltage on theselected word line, the memory cells are checked to determine if theyhave been programmed to their target state. FIG. 10 illustratesverifying steps for a 4-state memory cell. The four states aredemarcated by three breakpoints, hence three different sensing withdifferent V_(VER) values. As shown in FIG. 9, during verifying, the bitline voltage is reset to V_(BLSEN), typically between 0.5-0.7V. Aftereach verifying step, those memory cells that have been programmed totheir targeted state will be program-inhibited or locked out fromfurther programming. For those memory cells to be inhibited, theassociated bit line will be set to Vdd before the next programming step.

The cycle then proceeds with another programming step and so forth untilall memory cells of the page have been programmed properly.

In NAND type of memory, the memory storage units are locked out byfloating their channels and boosting the voltage there to inhibitprogramming. This is accomplished by setting the drain line voltage toVdd, which is a predetermined system voltage, e.g., ˜2.5V. Thiseffectively turns off disconnects the NAND chain 450 from its bit line436, and floats the channel of the NAND chain so that it can becapacitively boosted up to a high voltage when a high voltage (e.g., 10Vand V_(PGM)) appears on the word lines. For example, in this way, thechannel can be boosted to 10V. Boosting up the channel voltage willeffectively reduce the potential difference between the channel and thecharge storage unit of the memory cell in question, thereby discouragingpulling electrons from the channel to tunnel to the charge storage unitto effect programming even when a high voltage is applied to its controlgate.

FIG. 11 is another schematic of the NAND chain shown in FIG. 6, showingin particular the drain select transistor and the channel capacitanceused to latch a program-enabling or program-inhibiting voltage,according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Since the NANDchain 450 is constituted from a daisy chain of multiple memory cells,the channel of the chain will therefore have a capacitance a multiple ofthat of the channel of an individual memory cell. The capacitance of thechannel of the NAND chain is employed to latch the bit line voltage toeither enable or inhibit programming of the associated memory cellduring the programming step.

FIG. 12 is a timing diagram of the programming step with channel voltagelatching. Generally, the programming step comprises of four phases.Period (P1) is the bit line precharge phase. The bit lines areprecharged to either Vdd (FIG. 12(E)) for putting the coupled memorycell in a condition for program-inhibition or 0V (FIG. 12(D)) forprogram-enablement. Period (P2) is the boosting phase. Voltages aresupplied to the word lines of the unselected memory cells of the NANDchain (FIG. 12(I)). This has the effect of boosting the NAND channelvoltage of those cells whose bit lines are set at Vdd (FIG. 12(G)).After the NAND channel of those cells to be program inhibited have beenboosted, the drain select transistor is turned off by SGD going LOW.This disengages the bit lines from the NAND chains.

The third period (P3) is the programming phase. Whereas Periods (P1) and(P2) constitute the voltage setup on the channel of the page of memorycells, the period (P3) is where the actual application of theprogramming pulse to move electrons from the substrate to the chargestorage element. A programming voltage is supplied to the word line ofthe selected memory (FIG. 12(H)). Only those memory cells in NAND chainswith non-boosted channels will be programmed. Programming is inhibitedin those memory cells with a boosted channel because of reduced electricfield between the boosted channel and the charge storage element.Programming is performed with the bit lines disengaged from the NANDcell, but with the voltage condition of the channels held dynamically byits capacitance.

The fourth period (P4) is the discharge phase, which is relative shortcompared to the period for program setup, T_(P1), and the period forlatched programming, T_(P2). The high voltages on the word lines areallowed to discharge. Both the drain terminal and the source terminal ofeach NAND chain are reconnected to the bit line and the source linerespectively. This is accomplished by turning on the drain selecttransistor and the source select transistor. Thus, SGD and SGS go to Vdd(FIGS. 12(A), 12(B)). The channel is discharged via the source line toground.

Thus, to inhibit programming of certain cells along a row, Vdd isapplied to their associated bit lines in the bit line prechargephase(FIG. 12(E)). In the preferred embodiment, a sense amplifiercoupled to each bit line sets the bit line voltage under the control ofthe controller (see FIG. 11.) For each of the cells, with its drainselect transistor S2 turned on with Vdd at its gate (as is for the restof the row), its NAND channel is connected to its associated bit lineand charges up to Vdd-V_(T) (where V_(T) is the threshold voltage of thedrain select transistor.) (FIG. 12(G), (P1)) Then, in the boostingphase, Vpass is applied to the control gates of the unselected memorycells in the NAND chain via the unselected word lines. The channelvoltage rises as a result of coupling and when it rises beyond Vdd, thedrain select transistor is effective turned off. This floats the channeland results in even stronger boosting of the channel voltage by thevoltages at the word lines. The boosting phase is followed by theprogramming phase with the application of the programming voltage to theselected word line. As soon as the channel has been boostedsubstantially after the voltages on the word lines have substantiallypeaked, the drain select transistor is turned off by a low voltage atits gate. This will latched the boosted voltage at the channel to effectprogram inhibit until the completion of the programming step. At thesame time the NAND cell is detached from its associated bit line, andthis allows the same bit line to be used, in the meantime, by anotherNAND cell in the same column.

Similarly, to allow programming of the other cells along a row, 0V isapplied to their associated bit lines in the bit line precharge phase.For each of the cells, with its drain transistor turned on, its NANDchannel is connected to its associated bit line and is essentiallypinned at ground potential. Then, in the boosting phase, V_(PASS) isapplied to the control gates of the unselected memory cells in the NANDchain via the unselected word lines. Unlike the inhibit case, thechannel voltage does not get boosted as it is pinned at 0V. The boostingphase is followed by the programming phase with the application of theprogramming voltage to the selected word line. As soon as the word lineshave substantially peaked, the drain select transistor is turned off bya low voltage at its gate. This will latched the 0V voltage at thechannel to effect programming until the completion of the programmingstep. At the same time the NAND cell is detached from its associated bitline, and this allows the same bit line to be used, in the meantime, byanother NAND cell in the same column.

Memory sensing and verifying after a programming step have beendisclosed in co-pending and published U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/254,830, filed Sep. 24, 2002. The entire disclosure is hereby beingincorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 13 illustrates a conventional programming cycle where in a programoperation is a series of interleaving programming and verifying steps.Each programming step has a period given by T_(P) and each verifyingstep has a period given by T_(S). If the program operation requires nprogramming steps, then the total program operation time will ben(T_(P)+T_(S)).

As described earlier, the present invention allows the same set of bitlines to transfer a first set of voltage conditions to a first page ofmemory cells and be held dynamically by the first page to perform afirst memory operation while the set of bit lines is freed up to performanother memory operation. In one embodiment, the other memory operationis the next verifying step on the first page of memory. Unlike theconventional case, the verifying step can commence ahead of thecompletion of the programming step. The bit lines are precharged for thenext verifying step of the same page. In another embodiment, two pagesof memory cells are being programmed contemporarily, so that while onepage is being programmed, the other page can be verified with the use ofthe bit lines.

FIG. 14 illustrate the embodiment where the verifying step commencesahead of the completion of the programming step during program operationon a page of memory cells. Each programming step has a period given byT_(P)˜T_(P1)+T_(P2) , where T_(P1) is the programming setup time andT_(P2) is the program pulsing time. As shown in FIG. 12 (A), the bitlines are free during the latch programming period T_(P2). On the otherthe bit lines are required by the verifying step during its entireduration. Each verifying step has a period given by T_(S)˜T_(S1)+T_(S2),where T_(S1) is the sensing setup time and T_(S2) is the actual datasensing time. In the verifying step, the sensing must be performed afterthe completion of the programming step. However, its setup time T_(S1),which may be significant, can overlap with the latch programming periodsince it can have exclusive use of the bit lines for prechargeoperation. Thus, each program-verify cycle is approximately of durationT_(P)+T_(S2) and the total program operation time will ben(T_(P)+T_(S2)), which may be significantly less than the conventioncase shown in FIG. 13.

FIG. 15A illustrates another embodiment in which two pages of memorycells shares the same set of bit lines for efficient, paralleloperations. As one page is undergoing a programming step, the other pageis undergoing a verifying step. In the example given, two differentpages of memory cells respectively reside among two different rows ofNAND chains in the memory array. After the appropriate program-enablingor program inhibiting voltage condition has been transferred toindividual memory NAND chains containing the page, the voltageconditions are boosted and latched by the individual channels. The bitlines are then freed after T_(P1). At this time, the second page canengage the bit lines for a verifying step. If the entire verifying stepcan be subsumed within the latched programming period of T_(P2), thenthe average programming operation will be just nT_(P1), with no expensefor the verifying steps.

FIG. 15B illustrates another possibility of the two-page programmingembodiment shown in FIG. 15A in which the verifying step has a periodlonger than the latch programming period. In this case, the overallprogram-verify period is given by T_(P1)+T_(S) and the averageprogramming operation will be just n(T_(P1)+T_(S)).

FIG. 16 illustrates a memory device capable of performing pipelinedprogramming and verifying for two pages of memory cells simultaneously,according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Each page ofmemory cells resides within a corresponding page of NAND chains 450along a row of the memory array 400. The first page of memory cells hasits control gates connected by a word line WLa and their drain selecttransistor S2 and source select transistor S1 (see FIG. 11.) controlledby signals SGDa and SGSa respectively. The sources of the page of memorycells are connected to a source line 434. Similarly, the second page ofmemory cells has its control gates connected by a word line WLb andtheir drain select transistor and source select transistor controlled bysignals SGDb and SGSb respectively.

The two pages of memory cells share a set of bit lines 436 coupled to acorresponding set of sense amplifiers 572. The controller 510 controlsthe sense amplifiers which provide the necessary precharge voltage tothe bit lines and perform sensing operations such as verifying after aprogramming step. The controller also controls the voltages supplied tothe various source and drain select lines and word lines for the twopages of NAND chains independently.

This description of the invention has been presented for the purposes ofillustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise form described, and manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the teachingabove. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to bestexplain the principles of the invention and its practical applications.This description will enable others skilled in the art to best utilizeand practice the invention in various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to a particular use. The scope of theinvention is defined by the following claims.

1. A method of operating an integrated circuit with nonvolatile memorycells, which method comprises: connecting a source of an operatingvoltage to one or more gates of memory cells selected for operation atthe operating voltage; disconnecting the source from the gates andallowing the disconnected gates to hold the operating voltagedynamically while they are disconnected; and operating the selectedmemory cells using the dynamic voltage.
 2. A method according to claim1, wherein the source of operating voltage is periodically reconnectedto the gates of selected memory cells.
 3. A method according to claim 1including the step of accessing whether the specified operation has beenaccomplished and, if the operation has not been accomplished,reconnecting the source to the gates.
 4. A method according to claim 2including the step of accessing whether the specified operation has beenaccomplished and, if the operation has not been accomplished,reconnecting the source to the gates.
 5. A method according to claim 1,which permits programming of nonvolatile memory cells, other than theselected nonvolatile memory cells, while the source is not connected. 6.A method according to claim 1, which permits reading of nonvolatilememory cells, other than the selected nonvolatile memory cells, whilethe source is not connected.
 7. A method according to claim 1 whereinthe source is a charge pump for generating an erase voltage, wherein thegates of the selected memory cells are erase gates, and wherein theoperation on the selected memory sells is an erase operation.
 8. Amethod according to claim 7 wherein each nonvolatile memory cellcomprises two floating gate transistors and one select transistor havingan erase gate.
 9. A method according to claim 7 wherein the erasevoltage is in the range 15 to 22 volts.
 10. A method according to claims7 including the step of discharging the erase voltage from the erasegates after the selected memory cells are erased.
 11. An integratedcircuit comprising: an array of memory cells arranged in rows andcolumns; a plurality of transfer transistors, each coupled to a row ofthe array of memory cells; and an erase pump coupled to one of thetransfer transistors, to dynamically charge erase gates of a row ofmemory cells to an erase voltage through a respective transfertransistor, the erase voltage being dynamically held at the erase gatesby turning off the respective transistor.
 12. An integrated circuitaccording to claim 11, further comprising: a controller for controllingoperations of the integrated circuit; said controlling includes:connecting a source of an operating voltage to one or more gates ofmemory cells selected for operation at the operating voltage;disconnecting the source from the gates and allowing the disconnectedgates to hold the operating voltage dynamically while they aredisconnected; and operating the selected memory cells using the dynamicvoltage.
 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the source ofoperating voltage is periodically reconnected to the gates of selectedmemory cells.
 14. A method according to claim 12 including the step ofaccessing whether the specified operation has been accomplished and, ifthe operation has not been accomplished, reconnecting the source to thegates.
 15. A method according to claim 13 including the step ofaccessing whether the specified operation has been accomplished and, ifthe operation has not been accomplished, reconnecting the source to thegates.
 16. A method according to claim 12, which permits programming ofnonvolatile memory cells, other than the selected nonvolatile memorycells, while the source is not connected.
 17. A method according toclaim 12, which permits reading of nonvolatile memory cells, other thanthe selected nonvolatile memory cells, while the source is notconnected.
 18. A method according to claim 12 wherein the source is acharge pump for generating an erase voltage, wherein the gates of theselected memory cells are erase gates, and wherein the operation on theselected memory sells is an erase operation.
 19. A method according toclaim 18 wherein each nonvolatile memory cell comprises two floatinggate transistors and one select transistor having an erase gate.
 20. Amethod according to claim 18 wherein the erase voltage is in the range15 to 22 volts.
 21. A method according to claims 18 including the stepof discharging the erase voltage from the erase gates after the selectedmemory cells are erased.